THE

LIBERTARIAN

ENTERPRISE

Wake Up Call

In a recent column I asked when the American people would wake up to
what they've let "their" government become. At least one reader took
that as a simple rhetorical question. And provided a rhetorical
answer: "The answer to all these rhetorical questions is quite
simple. When disaster stares at us, square in the face."

Lessee what we've got so far; here are a few headlines and teasers
from the last couple of years. ...

"The 1992 ordinance had required police to order any group of
people standing around 'with no apparent purpose' to move along if an
officer believed at least one of them belonged to a street gang."

A December 3, 1998 report shows that the US Customs Service
conducted 49,592 body searches of international airline passengers in
a one year period. Of those thousands, a mere 5.2% were found to
possess drugs.

December 15, 1998: New York -- Despite objections from civil
libertarians, the city's police commissioner proposed Monday to take
a DNA sample along with the fingerprints of everyone arrested. ...
"The innocents have nothing to fear ... only if you are guilty should
you worry about DNA testing."

Sacramento, CA -- Pacific had agreed to sell 10,000 acres of land
to California and the federal government... But in recent
negotiations, federal authorities said that in return for the money,
Pacific would have to limit logging near waterways on the 200,000
acres of land it is not selling.

Denver -- The full 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday
that immunity deals and lesser sentences offered in return for the
testimony of witnesses did not violate federal laws against
bribery.

The White House argued today that the impeachment charges(of
felony perjury) against President Clinton should be dismissed because
they "... do not rise to the level of high crimes and
misdemeanors."

Police who seize someone's property during a search do not have to
provide information on how to get it back later, the Supreme Court
ruled today.

FHA to sell foreclosed homes to communities for $1 each

Turkey in the middle: Loyal ally has lost $30 billion in trade as
U.S. jets use its base to bomb Iraq

It will take more to get Americans to the polls this Election Day
than a presidential candidate they really like. A new study suggests
people will be more likely to vote if they actively dislike George
Bush or Al Gore.

Massachusetts seeks custody of Christian sect member's fetus

The Supreme Court today barred distribution of marijuana to people
in California whose doctors recommend it for medicinal purposes.

FBI tool weighs student threats: Not a profiling tool, it
insists

A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he
scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his
federal lawsuit against the city.

Kathleen Mahoney and 11 other jurors spent 30 days away from their
regular jobs to decide the claim by Merritt Sharp that his civil
rights were violated by the Garden Grove Police Department and five
law-enforcement officers. "It kind of defeats the purpose of a jury,"
Mahoney said Tuesday after being informed that Judge Derek W. Hunt
had thrown out the $1 million verdict awarded to Sharp.

And that's just the United States. Recently. You want to take a look
at the People's Republic of England? Australia? Or <fill in damned
near any nation yourself>?

Tell me -- If the complete abrogation of the Constitution (yes, that
includes the now defunct Bill of Rights) doesn't constitute disaster,
what the hell does? Are you waiting for someone to seize your
land 'for the public good'? To kick in your door on a 'War on
Some Drugs' accidental-raid-on-the-wrong-house? Concentration camps
for your racial/ethnic type? To have your papers
demanded by a uniformed thug at drug/DUI/insurance/taillight/open
container roadblock on a dark road?

Gas chambers?

If you're complacently sitting there, telling yourself that America
(or wherever you live) is still better than any other country, how
long do you think that will be the case if you don't get off your
butt to make it so?

If you are under oath to support and defend the Constitution of the
United States (or perhaps that of another country already well down
the road to police state), are you defending it? Or have you
chucked out your sacred honor, along with the Constitution?

Disaster is here. As the cliché goes -- Are you part of the problem,
or part of the solution?

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to return to The Libertarian Enterprise, Number 94, October 16, 2000.